First time to be a tour guide of Pink Girl

Thank God, today I could pick up my guests after 2 consecutive canceled tours of free walking tour Hanoi. I arrived at the hotel on time and waited for this couple to have breakfast for a few minutes. Soon, we quickly started our tour. It’s about 4 kilometers from Phat Loc to the Ho Chi Minh Complex, so my guests proposed to take a taxi to get there.

DURING THE TOUR:

Francesca had visited Vietnam a year ago, but this is the first time for Solo. Fran wanted Solo to visit the most famous historical and cultural places in Hanoi, that’s why she chose Ho Chi Minh Complex and Temple of Literature. While Fran was so fascinated by history and constantly asked me about important historical milestones, places, and figures, Solo would rather take photos than listen to me. So, I often had to explain everything to Fran, and then she retold to her boyfriend after he had gone around shooting for a while. I love talking to Fran very much. She is from the UK, so she has the very charming voice and I could not stop listening to her. Her voice is so soft, sweet, beautiful and I can’t describe it as wonderful as it really is. Vice versa, Fran also listened to me attentively and carefully, and she had a great memory. She could repeat exactly what I had just said to her to Solo, especially the figures. Both of them expressed their deep admiration and respect for our Great Father, after hearing about him. They were also surprised to know that throughout his lives, Uncle Ho did not get married, and they really treasured his sacrifice to our country.

Hoa lo prison.

We enter the mausoleum, after waiting in queue for a while, then moved to other parts of this complex, the Presidential Palace, House No. 54, Ho Chi Minh house on stilts, the One Pillar Pagoda, and Ho Chi Minh Museum respectively. There were some groups of kindergarten pupils coming there to take photos for their graduation, they were so cute and they were saying “Hello!” to my guest all the time. When I and Fran went up to the One Pillar Pagoda, we overheard a young woman praying to give birth to a son.

I’ve never talked about politics as much as I had to today. My guests constantly asked me why Ho Chi Minh could find out the solution to save Vietnam from slavery, how he did, how he was different from the other Vietnamese leaders in the past, what the dominant party system of Vietnam nowaday is, what the core values of the Vietnamese Communist Party are, why Vietnam has just only one party. They even asked me to give a definition of the Vietnamese Communist Party and were curious of what certain conditions a candidate need to meet to become a member of the Communist Party. They insisted me on finding the process of adoption of the Party for them as if they were about to become members of our Party @@. I had to try very hard to recall what I learned in Ho Chi Minh Ideology and the Revolutionary Way of the Vietnamese Communist Party, which are the subjects I studied in university, to explain to them.And after I finished explaining to them the meaning of the Party flag and our national flag, Solo explained to me the Australian National Flag meaning. The Australian National Flag is a design of striking stars and crosses. It represents all Australian citizens equally, whatever their background, race, color, religion or age. The Crosses are the Saints: St George, St Andrew, and St Patrick acknowledge the principles and ideas flowing from the British heritage of European settlers; including parliamentary democracy, the rule of law, freedom of speech and the rights and responsibilities of citizens. And The Stars are The Southern Cross. This constellation of stars relates to the various indigenous legends and reminds them of their rich and precious Aboriginal and Torres Strait heritage. The large seven pointed star is the emblem of Australian Federation. Six points represent the states and the seventh all the federal territories which together constitute the nation, the Commonwealth of Australia. Solo must be a very patriotic person, he has a tattoo of Australian National Flag on his ribs and another one of the South African

And after I finished explaining to them the meaning of the Party flag and our national flag, Solo explained to me the Australian National Flag meaning. The Australian National Flag is a design of striking stars and crosses. It represents all Australian citizens equally, whatever their background, race, color, religion or age. The Crosses are the Saints: St George, St Andrew, and St Patrick acknowledge the principles and ideas flowing from the British heritage of European settlers; including parliamentary democracy, the rule of law, freedom of speech and the rights and responsibilities of citizens. And The Stars are The Southern Cross. This constellation of stars relates to the various indigenous legends and reminds them of their rich and precious Aboriginal and Torres Strait heritage. The large seven pointed star is the emblem of Australian Federation. Six points represent the states and the seventh all the federal territories which together constitute the nation, the Commonwealth of Australia. Solo must be a very patriotic person, he has a tattoo of Australian National Flag on his ribs and another one of the South African flag on his chest and arms. He is a crossbreed. His father is an Australian and his mother is a South African person.

Temple of Literature.

Leaving Ho Chi Minh Complex, we walked about 15 mins to the Temple of Literature. We arrived at the Temple of Literature quite late, but we still had a detailed discovery in this area. I showed them about the symbol of the Constellation of Literature Pavilion on VND100,000, told them about the meaning of the Well of Heavenly Clarity, Doctors’ Stone Stelae, folk legends of “the Carp turns into Dragon”, “Returning home to pay thanks to ancestors after achieving academic honors”… In the last section of that Complex, the Imperial Academy, we met a group of students taking photos for their yearbook. My guests were standing for a long time on the courtyard just to take photos of Vietnamese girls in Ao dai. The Temple of Literature at noon was very quiet. We caught sight of some people lying down in the garden, and my guests were so surprised because, in their country, people did not take a nap.

FAREWELL Although it is just 2km from the Temple of Literature to the hotel, we still catch a taxi because my guests were quite tired. We said goodbye together in front of the alley, exchanged warm hugs and good wishes. Solo and Fran have been traveling together for 8 months, they don’t use FB, just Instagram to keep in touch with their families and friends, and let them know where they are and what they are doing. They share the same Insta account and combine their name into the account’s name. So Fran told me to follow them on Instagram and add her Whatapps address so that we contact with each other in the future.